Mission to save the Future!
by invinbooks
Summary: Konoha has fallen. The only survivors are Naruto, Sakura and Hinata. They will travel thorugh time to try and prevent the downfall of their hometown. Question is... will they succeed? Rated T for potential violence. There might not be pairings in this fic
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me; well maybe the phrasing of the story does, but nothing else. Naruto obviously doesn't but even the storyline isn't mine. It's my sister's and she told me to write it up or she would punch me into oblivion... *shudders* This is my first attempt in writing a story so please could I have lots of constructive criticisms in reviews please, maybe even praises? I'm getting ahead of myself...hehe**

**Anyway, back to the story, it is a time travel fic starring Naruto, Hinata and Sakura, with the usual supporting cast of the ninjas of Konoha. Enjoy! **

Konohagakure has fallen. Nothing is left of the once proud and mighty Leaf Village but the ruins of its former glory. Burnt concrete walls crumbled to the floor every now and again and the dismal rain that had suddenly poured down put out the remaining fires.

Amidst the pitter-patter of the raindrops three young adults stood staring at a memorial plaque their faces were wet and their eyes were red from crying. One had a bright orange sort of hair, another had neon pink hair and the final person had dark blue hair. All held masks with animal faces on.

"Hinata, Sakura, how did we let this happen? Why weren't we here to help them? It's all our fault damn it!" the bond haired boy ranted amid sobs with a desperate deep husky voice but still had a child's element to it.

"You can't blame it all on us; we were on an S-rank mission." Hinata consoled with her timid voice of reason.

"Humph, I doubt we would have made a difference even if we were here, everyone was killed, none of them stood a chance fighting generations of revived Uchihas all using their very best fire jutsus, and the fact that the Akatsuki had also persuaded all the other villages except for Suna to help. It was in their best interest to attack the Leaf, sigh, I don't know, I guess we would have died as well, even our Hokage Tsunade couldn't survive." Sakura the pink haired girl bemoaned.

Suddenly Naruto let out a sharp gasp and shunshinned away. Hinata and Sakura gave each other a confused look and followed.

Naruto had shunshinned to the Hokage Tower... or what was left of it. What the three ANBU now saw was a collapsed mound of concrete. When Hinata and Sakura arrived, Naruto was already bounding towards the rubble and was scratching away at the concrete with small mini bursts of his bullet rasengan. Sakura and Hinata knowing the determined look of Naruto meant that this was serious and was no joke, decided to help him with his endeavour; Sakura with her superhuman strength and Hinata using her Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms to produce a chakra beam to cut the rubble into large chunks of rock and then using Gentle Fist to smash it to pieces.

Soon, Hinata and Sakura realises their recklessness of diving in to break the stones and both looked at each other thinking the same thing: _What if we had destroyed what Naruto was looking for all along?_

They then immediately turned to ask Naruto what it was that he was looking for but just as they were about to ask, Naruto let out a triumphant yell and produced a tattered looking scroll.

Both Sakura and Hinata were genuinely confused.

Naruto, sensing their confusion, decided to enlighten them: "Just before we set off for our mission, Grandma Tsunade had called me in for a private meeting and in that meeting, she said that if any harm should come to the Leaf Village, I would need to use this scroll, it contains a jutsu that might just save this all from happening."

Sakura and Hinata waited for more... and waited... until Sakura had enough of waiting and yelled at Naruto: "WILL YOU JUST GET ON WITH IT AND TELL US! THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME, PLEASE JUST TELL US OR WOULD YOU RATHER BE SENT FLYING COURTESY OF MOI?"

With that sudden outburst from Sakura, the cowering Naruto blurted out: "Okay, okay, calm down, ok. I'll tell you." And with a small confident smile he said: "It's a time travel jutsu."

**A/N : Sorry my first chapter is quite short, I just felt that it was the right place to end it and I will be updating quite soon, maybe even tomorrow! Anyway, I'm looking forward to any reviews I get and please please please take the trouble of having to review. It is what writers are motivated by. The public opinion. It is also a good way for you guys to give some ideas to the authors as many of them (me) can't think of a lot to write about. Anyway, sorry for procrastinating_!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **

**A/N: Guilty as charged. Sorry for the late (two weeks!) update… Evidently (since this is my first try at a story) I do not know the strain of doing schoolwork as well as trying to write a decent story is like, it also didn't help that during these past few weeks I've been revising for tests (and watching anime, Shakugan no Shana's quite good, so please don't flame me… I introduced you to a good anime!) so, in short, I was lazy to write and I am making excuses (which happen to be true). I might put in some naru/hina/saku later on in the story as some reviewers suggested it, there will also be hints in this.**

**Here's Chapter 2, hope you enjoy!**

Hinata and Sakura stared at Naruto, wide-eyed and their mouths gaping open.

"It's our only hope if we are to save all this from happening." Naruto said, breaking the silence.

Hinata and Sakura, both recovering from their shock immediately regained their composure.

Hinata said: "But in order to save all this from happening, what we need to know is what caused this to happen in the first place, what caused the Akatsuki to stage such a sudden attack on the Leaf? How did they get so much power to revive the Uchihas, how did they get all the other villages to form alliances with them? How how how..."

"Its funny how before, when Hinata's nervous, she stutters but now she just rants on and on in a panicky sort of voice." Sakura commented

"Yeah, I know, but she's right ya know, we do have to find out all these things and that's why we need to go to the past. This time travel jutsu will transport us back in time to the time where this whole thing had started so we can find the source of all this madness and destroy it. However, when we go back in time, we will be back in our old bodies but will still have our mind and memories that we have now. So we will still have all our skills from the present. However, the only thing that is a bad thing is that, since we would be back in our old bodies, we would not have the physical strength or stamina that we have in this day and age so we will have to train all that again." Naruto lectured.

"But you just said that we will have all our skills from the present, what would be the point if we don't have enough strength of chakra to perform those jutsus?"

"I never said that."

"Yes you did"

"No, I didn't, I said that we would not have the _physical_ strength and stamina we have today. Our chakra will be just the same as the chakra levels we have now. Although, when we go back in time, we will have to be careful and not show that we have that much chakra or it will arouse suspicion."

"Oh, ... smartass." Sakura muttered.

Naruto then assembled the trio: "Alright, gang. Are we ready?" A chorus of yeses followed.

Hinata then interrupted: "Won't we need a meeting place when we get there?"

"Oh, I nearly forgot about that, let's meet at the Red Bridge as soon as we arrive. Okay guys, let's go!" Naruto cried.

_One minute of doing nothing later _

"Um, what are we supposed to be doing?" questioned Sakura.

"Was something supposed to happen by now?"asked Hinata.

"Oh, hehe, uh, nothing like that, it's just... erm, you know..." Naruto stammered.

"JUST GET ON WITH IT!" shouted Sakura.

"Oh, okay, erm... I forgot which hand seals would activate the jutsu," Naruto quietly admitted.

"YOU WHAT!" Sakura and Hinata cried out loud. (Yes, even Hinata shouted out)

"Erm, it's okay, I just need to find this other scroll... ah, and here it is! Um, okay, so the seals are: Tiger, Horse, Snake, Dragon, Dog, Rabbit, Monkey, Dragon. Ok, everyone got that? Now we have to do this together or else we will end up separated from each other, each flung into a random continuum of space and time. Got that?" Naruto said

"Sheesh, since when did Naruto get so smart and yet be so silly and stupid at the same time?" Sakura complained quietly to Hinata, who nodded in silent agreement.

When all three were ready, they each completed the hand signs in perfect unison and suddenly the scroll glowed a bright golden colour. The three shinobi were blinded by the light while it lasted and when they had finally gotten used to the darkness of night again, what stood before them was a grand sight.

It was a large ancient temple like gate probably half the size of the gate leading into the Hidden Leaf but what it lacked in size, was contemplated for by its majestic beauty of the intricate carvings of the mythical beasts along the two columns that supported the gate. On the two doors of the gate, was written: "時間"the kanji for 'time'. The door of the gate creaked slightly open and a bright light crept out of the small gap.

The trio stood unmoving, too shocked to speak at all, they each looked at each other and each asked the same doubtful question in their mind: _"Are we up for this incredibly impossible task of saving the future and going to the past?"_One glance at each other's face told them the answer they needed. They were ready. If they weren't, they still had to be. They had to go back in time to save the present whether they liked it or not.

The three teenagers firstly took tentative steps towards the majestic looking gate which for every step they took, the doors opened a little wider as if it was luring them in. With their shaky steps, they eventually reached the two doors which by now were fully open and revealed to them the inside of the gate.

It was more or less a huge vacuum of light with swirling patterns all concentrating to the middle. The slate of white light did not have a definite shape of a sort but was changing all the time, deforming and coming together, spiralling and unravelling.

Our three heroes once again glanced at one another and nodded. They held hands, Naruto in the middle, Sakura to his left and a blushing Hinata who still could not get over the fact that she still liked Naruto, to his right. They each took a deep breath and stepped into the unknown.

_Naruto's POV_

The first feeling I got when I stepped into the white light was a huge sensation of massiveness, like I'm only a small speck of dust in some old ancient mansion untouched for years. What's more, fleeting images of a particular moment in time would zoom right past us and there were literally thousands of these little images flying about. Images of impossible technology… I'm lying, my first feeling was the delicate softness of Hinata's hand gently holding on to my hand… and then the deathly vice-like grip from Sakura (she was probably thinking that if anything bad would happen, I would protect her, otherwise she wouldn't grab such a handsome man like me so tightly!) ;)

Right, back to the insignificant feeling I felt in the void of light, I guess that's what happens when all time and space is right here before your eyes and you're just scratching the surface of the entirety of space and time. I wasn't sure how long we had stayed in tunnel of light, it could have been a few minutes or a few hours, I don't know, everything was just so amazing, if felt like I could stare at this the whole day and not get bored at all. Explains the not sure how long we were in the tunnel for, doesn't it.

My first real scare was when I felt some unknown force tearing away my grip with Sakura and Hinata and there was literally nothing I could do to stop the unknown force from tearing them away from my hand and disappearing into the light. Seconds later, I 'landed' on my rock hard bed in my apartment, bounced up once and fell back down… on to the floor.

I got up painfully and rubbing my back, brushed myself off and took stock of my surroundings; I was back in my old apartment in Konoha. I went to the mirror and had a good look at myself. I guess I was about 12 (my favourite jumpsuit was still intact and not torn and ripped to pieces!) and nothing on me resembled anything that would give away that I wasn't the Naruto everyone knew… all except for one very obvious thing that people would notice straight away. My ANBU tattoo on my left shoulder was still there. I thought for a while as to why it would still be there and came to the conclusion that if I had the same chakra levels and skill level as I had several years in the future, then, seeing as the tattoo was created using my own chakra, then logically, it should still be there. Hmm, if I have the same chakra levels as in the future, then I should be able to use a genjutsu to cover up the tattoo. Struggling to remember the hand signs, I experimented but eventually, I managed to do the hand signs and sure enough, the tattoo faded away and there was nothing left but bare skin. I glanced at the clock and noted that it was 6:00 am and it was the day that we were going to be put into our Genin teams. Calming down a little, I started worrying about Sakrua and Hinata but seeing as I had landed in my room, logically, then Sakura and Hinata would be in theirs as well. Happy with the way things had gone so far, I ate some instant ramen, drank some milk, and left my apartment through the window to meet up with Sakura and Hinata with a queasy feeling in my stomach.

_Sakura's POV_

When the white light engulfed me, I felt as if I was floating in a giant vacuum (I probably was). I saw images of all sorts floating past me, then, suddenly, I felt Naruto's hand torn away from mine and I also felt a tug on my mind as if my consciousness had somehow shifted. After that, I was suddenly freefalling and then it all disappeared and it was replaced with the feeling of a warm, soft, cuddly blanket.

I got up, the scent of my shampooed hair wafted over me. I looked around, and saw that I was in my old room that I had vacated some years ago. Looking in the mirror, I saw that I was around 12 years old, with my long locks of flowing pink hair reaching mid back. I noticed that my headband looked fairly new and looking at my clock and calendar, I found out it was 6 o'clock the day Genins were put into their new team. Glancing back at the mirror, I noticed my ANBU mark was still visible and being adept at genjutsu, I easily covered it up and headed downstairs, careful not to make noise 'less I wake anyone up, walked through the front door and to the Red Bridge which was our pre-determined meeting place.

_Hinata's POV_

When I first entered the white void, all I felt was godly pureness, one untainted by the touch of evil and what's more, I felt Naruto's warm hand holding my own softly but firmly, as if he did not want to hurt me but still did not want to let go of me and also… Um, sorry I was waffling on again…

There were many fascinating images all floating around me, I felt Naruto's grip loosen then tighten again, as if he was struggling to hold on to me, then suddenly, his warm touch was torn away from me and I was sent spiralling down what it seemed to be a bottomless pit, I closed my eyes, scared, but luckily it didn't last very long. The sensation of freefalling was soon replaced by a floating feeling and a warm sensation came over me as if something was wrapped around me.

I opened my eyes and found myself staring at the ceiling of my old room in the Hyuga Compound. I got out of bed (if a bit reluctantly) and had a look at my surroundings. It was indeed my old room from when I was a Genin and Chunin. Furniture was rare around the Hyuga Compound so I decided to go outside to the pond. Just before though, I did a genjutsu that would keep prying eyes from the other Hyugas from using their Byakugan to see me (they could still use their naked eyes to see me). After that, I headed out.

Once at the pool, I looked at my reflection and noticed that I still had short hair and looked about 12ish. I then noticed the ANBU tattoo on my shoulder and easily covered it with a similar jutsu that masked my appearance from Byakugan users but much simpler. Then I went out of the Compound to meet up with Naruto and Sakura at the Red Bridge.

_END OF POVs_

Sakura arrived at the Red Bridge to see Naruto crouching in a foetal position holding his stomach.

"What are you doing?" asked Sakura.

"I think I have a stomach ache but its subsiding now. I tried to find a cure by putting together some random hand signs and one of them worked! It made my hand glow all blue and all…"

"Um, Naruto, that's standard medical ninjutsu. Didn't you know that? Oh wait, you were too busy perfecting your Wind release jutsus."

"Well, sorry for being ignorant and practicing more _useful _jutsus"

"More useful! The ninja world could not survive without medical knowhow!"

"Ninjas wouldn't _be_ ninjas without really strong fighting skills."

"Are you suggesting that I'm not strong!"

The two kids (can't say teens… they're 12!) squared up to each other, nose to nose.

Then suddenly, a timid but commanding voice spoke up "Stop arguing guys, people are looking!"

Sakura and Naruto looked up to see Hinata standing there, then at the people who were staring at them. They both smiled sheepishly, Naruto started whistling and Sakura started twiddling her thumbs.

As people started to ignore them, the three 12 year olds sat down and started to share their experiences of time travel and to plan their next move.

"Hey, it was a rough ride huh, when I arrived back at this time, I fell on my bed and then onto the floor as well, did any of you guys fall? Naruto questioned"

"Um, no… I just woke up on my bed as if from a normal night's sleep. Did you fall or anything Hinata?" Sakura asked

"No, I just woke up as well." Hinata replied.

Naruto swore, "Stupid Kami, making fun of me like that, the whole world's against me!"

Sakura and Hinata giggled.

Sakura piped up, "Hey, ya know, guys, today is the day when we are put into our Genin groups right?"

"Oh yeah, I still remember when I had fervently wished to be put into Naruto's group but it was not to be…" Hinata remembered wistfully.

"Well, we may have to be in the same group this time around, you see, if people find out about our immense strength at Genin level then it is sure to arouse suspicion." Naruto observed

"So what do you suggest we do?" asked Hinata

"I was thinking that we might tell Grandma Tsunade that we came from the future and all that." Naruto said.

"Um, sensei isn't the Hokage at this time, Naruto, it was the Third." Sakura said.

"Oh…" Naruto looked down, remembering how the Third Hokage had died.

"Well, anyway, Hinata? Do we agree with the plan?" Sakura asked

"Yeah, I say we go for it." Hinata said.

"Alright let's go!" Naruto yelled, once again attracting some involuntary glances, then the three of them shunshinned to the Hokage tower.

**A/N: Sorry, but I thought I would end it there as it was getting a bit lengthy. I hope that was long enough to satisfy you for a while. Hopefully, you would not have to wait another 2 weeks for another chapter but it's unlikely as I have half-term next week! Plenty of time to write a chapter.  
Please can I not have any reviews saying that it took so long etc. as you don't really need to tell me what I already know. I'll work on that. For now, seeya. Hope for some good reviews!**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hey, guys, long time no read eh? Sorry guys, because of my schoolwork and my overall laziness, I am sorry to inform you that from now on I will only write a chapter when I have time or feel like it so don't expect speedy updates at all. Also, because I have more or less given up, the quality of writing will be less as I don't bother to check it through again. Here's Chapter 3 and hope you enjoy. Oh, but please review them anyway, that's about the only reason why I'm carrying on...

Three tall pillars started growing before my desk, startled I looked up as three 12 year old children stepped out of their respective columns. They only left a few wisps of red chakra, the damp carpeting and a couple of sakura petals floating slowly and elegantly down toward the carpet as evidence of their extravagant entrance.

Stifling a gasp managed to blurt out: "N-narut-to! S-sakura! H-hinata! "

Hinata's POV

"N-narut-to! S-sakura! H-hinata! "

"Hello Sarutobi -sensei, it is good to see you again."I greeted.

"We have something of the utmost importance to inform you of." Sakura said

"Ok...but after this I expect a proper explanation of HOW THE DEUCE YOU ARE THREE ABLE TO SHUNSHIN!" Sarutobi shouted causing Naruto Sakura and Hinata to sweatdrop, startled at how the Third Hokage can differ from his usual calm expressions.

"Yes Sarutobi-sama." The three of us chorused.

"We came from the future Sarutobi-sensei, during the time that we come from Sasuke, Orochimaru and the Akatsuki have grown too powerful. As each year passed the attacks from all two groups grew in number. They had even incorporated the help of other sympathetic villages all hoping for the same goal; the destruction of the Leaf Village. This led to one final battle where all of them attacked at once…"Sakura trailed off.

Naruto picked up after her without missing a beat: "Three groups of three shinobi had been sent out earlier that week we had been sent on an S-ranked mission to track down and assassinate as many of the Akatsuki as possible, but the information that the village had was probably most likely laid to mislead Konoha into sending out strong shinobi on a wild goose chase just to weaken us."

Naruto fell silent. I picked up from where he left off: "The other two teams had to track and kill Sasuke and Orochimaru. When we got back to the village it had already fallen. The other two teams had returned before us and had the chance to help out, but we soon found their bodies among the corpses of our late comrades."

"During our time Sasuke left when he was twelve, he was given the curse mark from Orochimaru." Naruto continued.

After a while, Sarutobi then said with a loud sigh "This is hard to believe but I have had no cause to doubt you as you have already showed me your abilities and I have also identified you as the real Naruto, Sakura and Hinata so there is no doubting that you are imposters. However there is one last proof of identification that I need."

Sakura nodded knowingly and nodded towards Hinata.  
"Then we will show you our ANBU seals."Hinata stated. The three of them simultaneously went through a couple of hand signs ending with the ram seal. Their right bicep flickered, then, an ANBU seal materialized. "Feel free to test if they are genuine Sarutobi-sama."

End of POV's

With that the Sandaime frowned then touched his own seal and sent a pulse of chakra through hoping to get in touch with the three kids in front of him.

"_We hope that this is enough proof Sarutobi-sama" Hinata thought._

"_The thought line that connects ANBU seals is obviously genuine" Sakura thought._

"_WHAT… it's called a thought line?" Naruto shouted_ (can you shout thoughts?)

"Umm yes that is plenty of proof."

"We also have one last request." Sakura said

"Ok what would that be?"

"We want to all be in team 7, led by Hatake Kakashi." Sakura said.

"… and why is that?" Sarutobi

"We believe that we can trust Kakashi…and that also, he is a very capable ninja with the Sharingan he has covered up."Naruto said.

The Hokage nodded his head slowly, now sure that they were from the future if they knew about Kakashi's Sharingan. "Alright, I will have that arranged."

"…umm guys, I just realized that the whole Hyuga clan will be very suspicious if we suddenly have even more chakra than their current Hokage…"Hinata said "Would you mind if I put a seal on you guys so that whenever they try to look they will only see however much we want them to see."

"Well you don't need to do that, I can use one of Kyuubi's jutsu's to cover up most of our chakra emissions. It is a special masking jutsu that is very effective as unlike Hinata's jutsu that will require constant chakra consummation to hide our chakra, this jutsu is just a one off usage of chakra. The only way someone could see through this jutsu is that they would have to be a jinchūriki." Naruto said.

_Silence…_

"Naruto, what do you mean by _'one of Kyuubi's jutsu's'_?"Sarutobi said.

"Oh right, you don't know yet… well you see Kyuubi wasn't in full control of himself when he attacked Konoha, he was being controlled by Madara. Kyuubi started respecting me as a jinchūriki when I defeated a few of the Akatsuki. As soon as that happened he let me study some of his jutsu's and gave me the right to summon Foxes."Naruto explained.

"Oh" was the intelligent answer that Sarutobi gave.

"You know we should really get going to the academy, if I'm not mistaken this is the day of the Genin exams." Sakura piped.

With that Naruto started doing a set of hand seals slowly, no one except Sakura and Hinata knew what they were…Demonic Hand Seals, Sarutobi figured it was something like that though. Almost instantly after Naruto finished the hand seals, a red cloak masked Sakura's, Hinata's and Naruto's bodies for a while and then faded. They bid the Third Hokage farewell and left the Hokage tower, walking towards the academy where they will be put into their groups.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi guys, long time no upload, no idea how long it's been but it sure has been a while, I've just had my mocks so I found that I had some free to write and I managed to produce this 4th chapter. YAY! Anyway, hope you haven't been too disappointed with the long wait (hope you remember what happened before as well lol xD) and finally, I hope you review!**

At 7:30am in the morning exactly, in a classroom in the ninja academy in Konoha, a bunch of Genin were getting ready for their Genin tests. Sakura, Naruto and Hinata walked in together and were hit with a bout of nostalgia of their old lives.

"Everything used to be so easy… we could just play around… I wish we could go back to being like that." Sakura said wistfully.

"Remember, we have to act like our old selves to keep suspicion away from us." Hinata reminded Sakura.

Naruto suddenly whipped his head around. "What! Do you mean I have to act all competitive against Sasuke again even if I am so much better than him? Also, do I have to accidentally… kiss him as well?" Naruto added the last bit with a look of sheer horror on his face.

Sakura gave a devious look and a wink to Hinata while Naruto was freaking out and said "Well, who knows? If you change what happened in the past, there may be dreadful consequences in the future."

Sakura hadn't even finished the sentence before Naruto had started running in circles screaming he didn't want to relive that event again while everyone else didn't pay any attention to him as they thought that he was just being normal.

However, he wouldn't have a chance to (luckily for him); Iruka-sensei was standing behind him giving him a 'you-are-in-trouble' look.

"What are you doing again, Naruto?" Iruka asked with an exasperated tone to his voice as if he had asked this question for decades. "Just go sit down. I'm not in the mood today."

Naruto gave Sakura and Hinata an evil look seeing them already in their seats and pretending to be all sweet-like smiling at him. Naruto stuck his tongue out at them but was swiftly knocked on the head by a watchful Iruka. Naruto then, without a word, skulked to his seat, next to Sasuke.

"Well, as you all know, today is the Genin exams day! I hope you all are ready!" Iruka exclaimed the cheerfulness in his voice back again. Everybody cheered except for Sasuke who just sat there with a bored look on his face.

"Please come to the front one by one please. The test will be…. (drum roll) the Clone Jutsu!"

One by one, everyone including Sakura and Hinata stepped up to the front passing the test easily. Then, came Naruto's turn. Everyone watched as he walked slowly down the steps to the front of the classroom, with everyone muttering and trading expectations of the outcome.

The only reason Naruto was walking slowly and not his usual jumpiness of rushing about was because he was thinking. Thinking very hard. About whether he should deliberately fail… or ace the test completely. This was because he was heeding Sakura's (joke) warning from earlier on saying that if you changed something from the past, there will be dreadful consequences in the future.

He finally reaches to the front of the classroom.

"Grr, this is a complication…" Naruto thought. "Oh what the heck, I'll just fail and make sure nothing bad happens… but by failing I might have lost Sasuke's respect and make him seek more power elsewhere… this is bad I need to think of something really quickly…"

"Naruto? You can start now…" Iruka said, seeing him standing there.

"Alright, I'll just play it safe and fail…" said Naruto, resigned to failing again. "I'll just throw as little chakra into it as possible and it should come out as a fail."

Once he decided, he shaped a seal, shut his eyes tight and cried "Clone Jutsu!"

Next to him a perfectly formed clone of Naruto himself staring meekly back at him. Naruto's face blanched while everyone else's face rose in shock.

In the rows of seats, Sakura and Hinata giggled. They both knew that when Naruto failed before, he did not master the clone jutsu properly and that once you learn it, no matter how little chakra you put in it, it will be a successful clone… just a very weak one!

While everyone was still shocked at Naruto's success, Iruka shook his head and smiled proudly at Naruto.

"Well, it looks like you pass! After all those years… thank goodness I don't have to put up with you anymore!" Iruka said while trying to hold back tears.

Iruka got over his moment of sentimentalism quickly and announced that they would be put into teams.

"Alright, that's all for today, I'm extremely proud to have been a teacher of a class of which every one of you passed. You will officially be put into your teams tomorrow, so don't be late!"

Everyone cheered as they left the classroom in good spirits leaving Iruka-sensei smiling and teary-eyed.

The next day, everyone was punctual as they were all excited about their new teams. As Iruka-sensei entered the room, everyone was still chatting away about who they would want on their team and who they wouldn't want.

"Okay, now, everyone be quiet, it's time… to announce the teams!" proclaimed Iruka.

Everyone cheered whilst Iruka prepared the cue cards he was given.

"Ok, Team 1, Sakamato Takami, Kyou Ekudo and Kanade Takenami.  
Team 2, Jyunsei Kita, Shouwa Nakahiisa and Touma Daimon …a…few…teams…later…  
Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame.  
Team 8, Hyuga Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura (at this, Naruto's face lit up while Sakura's face dropped into one of sadness, all pretend of course…)  
Team 9, Deiwa Natsume, Nareji Keima and Gin Toshiki.  
and finally, Team 10, Yamanako Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji.

Now everyone…" Iruka said, while tears in his eyes formed. "It has been a pleasure to teach you and I'm so very proud of every one of you for passing. Alright, now all you need to do is wait for your new tutors."

Iruka then walked out of the classroom leaving his pupils behind, gossiping about who they got and how tough it will be.

Meanwhile, Naruto, Hinata and Sakura got together and started playing card games.

Seeing this, Shikamaru came over, "Oi, what're you doing? Shouldn't you be waiting for your tutor?"

Naruto swiftly replied without looking up, "Kakashi's always late anyway, we might as well do something to while away the time… oh, Hinata that was cheating! I was distracted talking to Shika over here!"

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, mulling over the fact that Naruto had just called Kakashi by his first name casually without adding the suffix –sensei or even –san. Also, Naruto had called him by the shortened version of his name: Shika, something only close friends would call him. There was certainly something wrong here. As he walked away, he decided to keep an eye on this team.

As all the teams left with their team leader, only our three protagonists were left and finally, Kakashi decided to show up.

Naruto, Hinata and Sakura all sensed him a long way off but decided to play it dumb and carry on playing carelessly and pretended to be surprised when Kakashi suddenly shunshinned right next to them.

Kakashi eyed them lazily and said: "There's no point really doing anything today… meet me tomorrow in the clearing next to the lake at 6 AM sharp tomorrow… and remember, don't eat anything… otherwise… you may suffer bad consequences…" his voice changing from lazy to menacing.

The three kids pretended to look frightened and nodded silently.

"Alright, that's it then, seeya tomorrow" Kakashi said brightly and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto, Sakura and Hinata all looked at each other and started to roll on the floor, suffering from intense laughter.

When tomorrow came, Naruto, Sakura and Hinata went to the clearing at 9AM sharp, with a full breakfast meal safely tucked away in their bellies and yet, they were still an hour too early.

When Kakashi arrived, the three kids were lazing around the pool casually enjoying the breeze. Kakashi looked with a vaguely shocked expression but put it all to youthful complacency. He quickly announced his presence by throwing a few kunai at the genin and they quickly rushed over to Kakashi.

"Alright, you guys, today, we'll be doing the bell test. The aim of this is to take the bells from me. If you manage to do that, you pass."

"But Kakashi… -sensei, there are only 2 bells!" Naruto intelligently pointed out.

"Therefore only 2 of you can pass." Kakashi said while his eye turned into a U-shaped smile.

"Can we begin then? Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura confidently asked, while Hinata also did not look at all phased by the test.

Kakashi thought to himself _"__They__are__either__really__confident__in__their__abilities,__or__are__just__plain__stupid.__"_

Once Kakashi initiated the test, all three genin started to run straight at Kakashi with Naruto heading the gang with Sakura and Hinata close behind.

Kakashi thought to himself _"__Another__bunch__of__reckless__genin__I__see__…"_

However, Naruto suddenly spinned off one way allowing Sakura to throw a powerful punch at Kakashi, who managed to dodge it just in time, also noticed that Hinata had disappeared from behind Sakura.

Kakashi realised that these were not normal genin and decided that he shouldn't be too casual about this.

After dodging Sakura's punch, Naruto came rushing in with kunai in hand but Kakashi kicked at it revealing that it was only a shadow clone. The real Naruto came up behind Kakashi and dealt a kick to his back causing Kakashi to lean forward and suddenly Hinata came rushing out of the trees with a flying kick aimed for Kakashi's hand, trying to make him release his grip on the bells. However, Kakashi was equal to this, spinning into the air avoiding Hinata's attack and dealt a counter attack with a spinning kick aimed for Hinata which she easily dodged with a few backflips.

Kakashi suddenly realised that he was surrounded by the three genin, and as all three attacked at the same time, Naruto aiming for Kakashi's head with a high kick, Hinata using her gentle fist to attack Kakashi's midriff, and Sakura with a sliding tackle on Kakashi's leg, Kakashi found no way to escape their attacks physically and had to resort to a substitution technique to escape.

However, Kakashi's brief respite was not to last very long as behind him, another Naruto clone was swiping at the bells touching them before Kakashi yanked them away, but this brief lapse in concentration proved decisive as Naruto, and about 10 of his clones, as well as Sakura and Hinata all attacked Kakashi together causing the bells to fall away from his hands into the hands of Hinata who was ready for it.

When Kakashi looked up, he saw three triumphant genin standing before him. "Well, I don't know what to say, obviously, you're stronger than most genin and you managed to work in a team so very well it seemed you were together for a very long period of time. I have no choice but to say you pass."

At this the three genin jumped up and high-fived each other.

"Okay, you three, since you passed today's test so easily and in such a short period of time, what say we go to Ichiraku's Ramen shop to eat some ramen?"

Both Sakura and Hinata looked at Naruto but strangely, Naruto refused, saying "Sorry, Kakashi-sensei, but we're busy training this afternoon, so we can't go to eat."

"Hmm, ah well, more time for me to catch up on my reading then, seeya guys!" and disappeared in a poof.

Sakura and Hinata both looked at Naruto bewildered.

He looked back at them. "What?"

Sakura managed a few words "Y-y-you r-refused r-r-r-r-RAMEN?"

"Yerp, and besides, I want to test out how much I can achieve in this body."

Hinata then asked "So you want to train?"

"Of course." Said Naruto with that gleam of determination in his eyes which had inspired many young ninjas in the distant future…

**Just a reminder ^^ **

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	5. Chapter 5

**Hi guys, here is Chapter 5… it's been another few months huh…**

Having seen Naruto reject his offer to go to Ichiraku's Ramen shop, Kakashi was slightly suspicious of this behaviour as he had been told that Naruto was a huge Ramen fan. Keeping this in mind, he proceeded to hide and to spy on them.

Although he didn't expect much, he was surprised to see that this 'training' only composed of the 3 ninjas running around Konoha and although he commended them on their stamina; it wasn't very worthwhile training in his eyes and after a few more rounds, Kakashi decided that he wasn't going to spend the rest of his day watching a few genin run around.

But as he stood to leave, he heard Naruto shout out "OK, now time for Jutsu training!"

This perked Kakashi's interest and turned back to look but then saw Naruto, Sakura and Hinata circling their surroundings to see if they were alone. Kakashi had to back off a few metres to leave their perimeters and was not found.

"_Hmm, now this is interesting…. What sort of jutsu practice would require the users to check if they were alone before performing it…?"_ A wry smile formed in the corner of Kakashi's lips.

As Kakashi looked on, he was once again disappointed when all they did were simple Jutsu; they were only performing D to C ranked jutsu...nothing of interest to him. He started to fall into a trance when Naruto suddenly exclaimed "Ok, that should be enough for warming up, let's start!"

At this, Kakashi snapped his eyes open and stared intently at the trio of genin. He was slightly curious as to why Sakura and Hinata slowly backed away from Naruto as Naruto did a set of unfamiliar seals. Of course, this was unfamiliar only to Kakashi as Sakura and Hinata knew full well that these were demonic hand seals. When Naruto was finished with the hand seals, he cried out **Demon Fire: Flame Tornado Jutsu! **Three separate twisters of 'Demon Fire' flew from his palm reaching over 10 metres tall and sweeping across the training area at immense speed, burning everything it touched including water, and as it swept towards a waterfall, it reduced it to nothing more but ashes.

Kakashi looked dumbfounded. He thought to himself, _"Demon Fire Jutsu? The fire that cannot be put out by anything, that isn't something genin can do. So the seals before must have been demonic hand seals… I remember reading about them in some book or other…"_

He felt like going out to ask them what the heck was going on but he felt curious about what the other two could do as well.

After Naruto's jutsu had devastated the surrounding, it was Hinata's turn, and as she did her hand seals, Naruto created a shadow clone. When Hinata was finished, she cried out **River Flash Jutsu!**

At this, a thick column of water sprouted out from her hand, 8 metres tall and 2 metres wide and 15 metres long, directed at Naruto's clone, which had already started running between trees and jumping off ledges but the water column continued to follow the clone, destroying many trees in the process.

Once again, Kakashi was left dumbfounded, imagining the amount of chakra it took to summon out such a large column of water while also directing it to follow something so small in relative size.

When Hinata finished, she and Naruto high fived while Sakura just looked at the surroundings utterly dismayed. "Now look what you've done! You've gone and wrecked the whole place!"

Naruto and Hinata suddenly looked down and meekly smiled back, quite afraid of the wrath of Sakura.

"I guess I can only use one of my Frozen Touch Jutsu then" she said resignedly.

"**Frozen Touch: Ice of Healing Jutsu!" **she cried out.

Sakura then rose up to the sky in a twirl and spun in the air at a rapid speed, sprinkling ice vapour on the surrounding area freezing it immediately. Naruto and Kakashi sneezed simultaneously.

_Phew if I had sneezed at a different time, they would surely have caught on to me, _Kakashi thought to himself.

When everything was frozen, Sakura dropped to the ground and smashed the ice with amazing strength, shattering the ice and revealing the landscape.

Kakashi looked with shock once again. The landscape had returned to its original state, the trees were undamaged, the waterfall was still intact, and there were no giant craters anywhere.

Kakashi, still in a state of shock, then quickly shunshinned towards the 3 ninjas, and catching them unaware, knocked them out and dragged them off to see the Hokage.

Meanwhile… in the trees further west to the clearing, Shikamaru with a slight smirk was walking away into the darkness of the forest.


End file.
